A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object that might be shaped like a human, animal or mythical creature, or another object to create the illusion that the puppet is "alive". The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or her own hands placed inside the puppet or holding it externally or any other part of the body- such as the legs. Some puppet styles require two or more puppeteers to work together to create a single puppet character.

The puppeteer's role is to manipulate the physical object in such a manner that the audience believes the object is imbued with life. In some instances, the persona of the puppeteer is also an important feature, as with ventriloquist's dummy performers, in which the puppeteer and the human figure-styled puppet appear onstage together, and in theatre shows like Avenue Q.

The puppeteer might speak in the role of the puppet's character, synchronising the movements of the puppet's "mouth". However, there is much puppetry which does not use the moving mouth (which is a lip-sync innovation created originally for television where close-up "headshots" are popular). Often, in theatre, a moveable mouth is used only for gestural expression, or speech might be produced by a non-moving mouth. In traditional glove puppetry often one puppeteer will operate two puppets at a time out of a cast of several.
Much work is produced without any speech at all with all the emphasis on movement

The relationship between the puppeteer and the puppet-maker is similar to that between an actor and a playwright, in cases where a puppet-maker designs a puppet for a puppeteer. Very often, though, the puppeteer assumes the joint roles of puppet-maker, director, designer, writer and performer. In this case a puppeteer is a more complete theatre practitioner than is the case with other theatre forms, in which one person writes a play, another person directs it, and then actors perform the lines and gestures.

Puppetry is a complex medium sometimes consisting of live performance, sometimes contributing to stop frame puppet animation, and film where performances might be technically processed as motion capture, CGI or as virtual puppetry.

Contents

This article's list of people may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability or notability policies. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they are notable AND members of this list, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(June 2014)

The Chiodo Brothers - Stephen Chiodo, Edward Chiodo, and Charles Chiodo have used their company Chiodo Bros. Productions Inc. to create puppets for specific films which they also performed in. They are also known for performing the puppet for Dr. Colosso from The Thundermans.

Rollie Krewson - She helped to build some of the Muppets for The Muppet Show and other Muppet-based projects. Rollie has also occasionally performed some minor Muppet characters in some of Jim Henson's projects.

Caroline Astell-Burt - Started as Yorkshire's Punch and Judy Lady, has become known for her work in the art of Puppetry in Education and Therapy. She and Ronnie Le Drew started the first professional training for puppeteers in 1987 which became the London School of Puppetry.

Sergey Obraztsov - (1901–1992) - He was frequently cited as the father of artistic puppetry, was highly skilled in finger puppeteering, but also extended the range of the form by exposing the manipulation techniques involved.

Ramdas Padhye - A ventriloquist, puppeteer and puppet-maker from India. His ventriloquist dummy Ardhavatrao, and Bunny (the rabbit that starred in the commercial Lijjat Papad) are well known on the sub-continent. His son Satyajit Padhye is also a Ventriloquist and Puppeteer who is carrying this art of Puppetry to future generations.

Pantopuck - He was the first puppeteer on television. He is the author of "The Magic Tower and other Plays" and "Modern Puppetry."

Bob Payne - Mirinda Craver in the Mirinda commercials. Bob Payne was also the one who built some puppets for The Muppet Show and built the original Telly Monster puppet for Sesame Street (where Bob Payne was also the first performer of Telly Monster).

Peter Schumann (b. 1934) - Peter has also been a highly influential puppeteer. Schumann formed Bread and Puppet Theatre in 1963, using puppetry as a form to campaign politically and educate socially as well as entertain. His work has also been formally experimental, and influenced a wide range of theatre practitioners including Julie Taymor.

Zdar Sorm - He is in charge of technological design of puppets for animated films at Barrandov Studio, Prague, Czech Republic

Caroll Spinney - Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Granny Bird, and Bruno the Trashman from Sesame Street. Prior to working on Sesame Street, Caroll Spinney created the cat duo Picklepuss and Pop for the Boston broadcast of "Bozo's Big Top" back in 1967 where the two characters appeared in Muppet forms for the Play-Along Video titled "Wow, You're a Cartoonist."

1.
Puppet
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A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of her hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to move the body, head, limbs, and in some cases the mouth and eyes of the puppet. The puppeteer often speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, the actions, gestures and spoken parts acted out by the puppeteer with the puppet are typically used in storytelling. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in Ancient Greece. There are many different varieties of puppets, and they are made from a range of materials, depending on their form. They range from very simple in construction and operation to very complex, the sock puppet is a type of hand puppet, which is controlled using one hand that occupies the interior of the puppet and moves the puppet around. A live-hand puppet is similar to a puppet but is larger. A rod puppet is constructed around a central rod secured to the head, a shadow puppet is a cut-out figure held between a source of light and a translucent screen. Bunraku puppets are a type of Japanese wood-carved puppet, carnival puppets are large puppets, typically bigger than a human, designed to be part of a large spectacle or parade. Puppetry was practiced in Ancient Greece and the oldest written records of puppetry can be found in the works of Herodotus and Xenophon, aristotle discusses puppets in his work On the Motion of Animals. In India, puppetry was practiced from ancient times and is known by different names in different parts of the country, excavation of clay dolls from Indus valley sites serve as an indication. The art of puppetry called Bommalattam is mentioned in Tamil literature Silappadikaram, puppetry by its nature is a flexible and inventive medium and many puppet companies work with combinations of puppet forms and incorporate real objects into their performances. They might, for example, incorporate performing objects such as paper for snow. The puppeteers perform dressed in black against a background, with the background. The puppeteers manipulate the puppets under the light, while they position themselves unseen against the black unlit background, Puppets of many sizes and types may be used. The original concept of form of puppetry can be traced to Bunraku puppetry. Bunraku puppets are a type of wood-carved puppet originally made to stand out through torch illumination, Bunraku traditionally uses three puppeteers to operate a puppet that varies from 1/3 to 1/2 life size. Carnival puppets are designed to be part of a large spectacle

2.
Ventriloquism
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Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is an act of stagecraft in which a person changes his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered dummy. The act of ventriloquism is ventriloquizing, and the ability to do so is called in English the ability to throw ones voice. Originally, ventriloquism was a religious practice, the name comes from the Latin for to speak from the stomach, i. e. venter and loqui. The noises produced by the stomach were thought to be the voices of the unliving, the ventriloquist would then interpret the sounds, as they were thought to be able to speak to the dead, as well as foretell the future. One of the earliest recorded group of prophets to utilise this technique was the Pythia, the priestess at the temple of Apollo in Delphi, who acted as the conduit for the Delphic Oracle. One of the most successful early gastromancers was Eurykles, a prophet at Athens, in the Middle Ages, it was thought to be similar to witchcraft. As Spiritualism led to stage magic and escapology, so became more of a performance art as, starting around the 19th century. Other parts of the world also have a tradition of ventriloquism for ritual or religious purposes, historically there have been adepts of this practice among the Zulu, Inuit, and Māori peoples. The shift from ventriloquism as manifestation of spiritual forces toward ventriloquism as entertainment happened in the century at the travelling funfairs. The earliest example of a ventriloquist dates back to 1753 in England, in 1757, the Austrian Baron de Mengen is known to have implemented a small doll into his performance. However, other performers were beginning to incorporate dolls or puppets into their performance, carries in his pocket, an ill-shaped doll, with a broad face, which he exhibits. As giving utterance to his own childish jargon, and Thomas Garbutt, the entertainment came of age during the era of the music hall in the United Kingdom and vaudeville in the United States. George Sutton began to incorporate a puppet act into his routine at Nottingham in the 1830s, in 1886, he was offered a professional engagement at the Palace Theatre in London and took up his stage career permanently. Fred Russells successful comedy team format was applied by the generation of ventriloquists. Bergen popularised the idea of the comedic ventriloquist, Bergen, together with his favourite figure, Charlie McCarthy, hosted a radio program that was broadcast from 1937 to 1956. It was the #1 program on the nights it aired, another ventriloquist popular in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s was Señor Wences. The art of ventriloquism was popularised by Y. K. Padhye in North India and M. M. Roy in South India, Y. K. Padhyes son Ramdas Padhye borrowed from him and made the art popular amongst the masses through his performance on television. Ramdas Padhyes son Satyajit Padhye is also a ventriloquist, similarly, Indusree a female ventriloquist from Bangalore has contributed a lot to the art

3.
Avenue Q
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Avenue Q is an American musical in two acts, conceived by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who together, wrote the music and lyrics. The book was written by Jeff Whitty and the show was directed by Jason Moore, Avenue Q is an autobiographical and biographical coming-of-age parable, addressing and satirizing the issues and anxieties associated with entering adulthood. The musical is notable for the use of puppets, animated by unconcealed puppeteers, Originally conceived as a television series, the show was developed as a stage production at the 2002 National Music Theatre Conference at the Eugene ONeill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. With 2,534 performances, Avenue Q ranks 23rd on the list of longest running shows in Broadway history, the show ended its Broadway run on September 13,2009, and then reopened Off-Broadway at New World Stages in October 2009. Avenue Qs unique presentation requires substantially more suspension of disbelief by audience members than normal, the cast consists of three human characters and eleven puppet characters who interact as if human, Sesame Street-style. The puppets are animated and voiced by actor/puppeteers who are present, unconcealed, onstage and that is, the puppets and human characters completely ignore the puppeteers, and the audience is expected to do so as well. One puppeteer sometimes voices two or more puppets simultaneously, conversely, the so-called live-hands puppets require two puppeteers — again, in full view of the audience. The show draws considerable inspiration from Sesame Street and substantially imitates its format, all of the characters, puppet and human, represent amalgamations of things and feelings going through personally. Much of the shows ironic humor arises from its contrasts with Sesame Street, the show also employs a highly unusual plot device, a real-life celebrity inserted as a fictional character within the story. Coleman later threatened repeatedly to sue Avenue Q producers for their depiction of him, when Coleman died on May 28,2010, casts of both the Off-Broadway production in New York City and the second national tour in Dallas dedicated that evenings performances to his memory. The Coleman character remains in the show with modified dialogue, setting, a fictional street in an outer-outer borough of New York City. Princeton, a recent college graduate, is anxious to discover his purpose in life, but first, he must find an apartment and a job, with no work experience, beginning his search on Avenue A, he finally finds an affordable apartment on Avenue Q. Arguments ensue over whose life sucks the most, Nicky, who is straight, suspects that Rod is gay, and assures Rod it is okay with him if he is, but Rod insists he is not. Princeton finds a penny and longs to discover his purpose in life. Kate dreams of starting a Monstersori school for people of fur. Princeton innocently asks Kate if she and Trekkie are related, since they are monsters, but Kate angrily pronounces his assumption racist. Princeton, taken aback, counters that Kates Monstersori School would discriminate against non-monsters and they and the neighbors agree that racism is an adult reality. Princeton receives money from his parents, and the Bad Idea Bears, Kates boss, Mrs. Thistletwat, assigns Kate to teach the next mornings kindergarten class, her first solo teaching opportunity

4.
Actor
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An actor is a person who portrays a character in a performance. Simplistically speaking, the person denominated actor or actress is someone beautiful who plays important characters, the actor performs in the flesh in the traditional medium of the theatre, or in modern mediums such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is ὑποκριτής, literally one who answers, the actors interpretation of their role pertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. Interpretation occurs even when the actor is playing themselves, as in forms of experimental performance art, or, more commonly, to act, is to create. Formerly, in societies, only men could become actors. When used for the stage, women played the roles of prepubescent boys. The etymology is a derivation from actor with ess added. However, when referring to more than one performer, of both sexes, actor is preferred as a term for male performers. Actor is also used before the name of a performer as a gender-specific term. Within the profession, the re-adoption of the term dates to the 1950–1960s. As Whoopi Goldberg put it in an interview with the paper, Im an actor – I can play anything. The U. K. performers union Equity has no policy on the use of actor or actress, an Equity spokesperson said that the union does not believe that there is a consensus on the matter and stated that the. subject divides the profession. In 2009, the Los Angeles Times stated that Actress remains the term used in major acting awards given to female recipients. However, player remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a group or company, such as the American Players. Also, actors in improvisational theatre may be referred to as players, prior to Thespis act, Grecian stories were only expressed in song, dance, and in third person narrative. In honor of Thespis, actors are commonly called Thespians, the exclusively male actors in the theatre of ancient Greece performed in three types of drama, tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play. Western theatre developed and expanded considerably under the Romans, as the Western Roman Empire fell into decay through the 4th and 5th centuries, the seat of Roman power shifted to Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. Records show that mime, pantomime, scenes or recitations from tragedies and comedies, dances, from the 5th century, Western Europe was plunged into a period of general disorder

5.
Playwright
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A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes plays. The term is not a variant spelling of playwrite, but something quite distinct, hence the prefix and the suffix combine to indicate someone who has wrought words, themes, and other elements into a dramatic form - someone who crafts plays. The homophone with write is in this case entirely coincidental, the term playwright appears to have been coined by Ben Jonson in his Epigram 49, To Playwright, as an insult, to suggest a mere tradesman fashioning works for the theatre. Jonson described himself as a poet, not a playwright, since plays during that time were written in meter and this view was held as late as the early 19th century. The term playwright later lost this negative connotation, the earliest playwrights in Western literature with surviving works are the Ancient Greeks. These early plays were written for annual Athenian competitions among playwrights held around the 5th century BC, such notables as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes established forms still relied on by their modern counterparts. For the ancient Greeks, playwriting involved poïesis, the act of making and this is the source of the English word poet. In the 4th century BCE, Aristotle wrote his Poetics, the first play-writing manual, in this famous text, Aristotle established the principle of action or praxis as the basis for all drama. He then included a hierarchy of elements for the beginning with plot, character, thought, diction, music. The ends of drama were plot, character, and thought, the means of drama were language and music, since the myths, upon which Greek tragedy were based, were widely known, plot had to do with the arrangement and selection of existing material. Character was equated with choice as rather than psychology, so that character was determined by action, in tragedy, the notion of ethical choice determined the character of the individual. Thought had more to do and the imitation of an action that is serious, thus, he developed his notion of hamartia, or tragic flaw, an error in judgment by the main character or protagonist. It provides the basis for the play, a term still held as the sine qua non of dramaturgy. The Poetics, while very brief and highly condensed, is studied today. Perhaps the most Aristotelian of contemporary playwrights is David Mamet, who embraces the idea of character as agent of the action, and emphasizes causality in the structure of his plays. His recently revived, Speed-the-Plow, is quintessentially Aristotelian, in that it observes the unities and builds its plot through a causal stream of discoveries and reversals. The Italian Renaissance brought about a stricter interpretation of Aristotle, as this long-lost work came to light in the late 15th century. The neoclassical ideal, which was to reach its apogee in France during the 17th century, dwelled upon the unities, of action, place, and time

6.
Theatre director
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The directors function is to ensure the quality and completeness of theatre production and to lead the members of the creative team into realizing their artistic vision for it. If the production he or she is mounting is a new piece of writing or a translation of a play, in contemporary theatre, after the playwright, the director is generally the primary visionary, making decisions on the artistic concept and interpretation of the play and its staging. Different directors occupy different places of authority and responsibility, depending on the structure, Directors use a wide variety of techniques, philosophies, and levels of collaboration. In ancient Greece, the birthplace of European drama, the writer bore principal responsibility for the staging of his plays, the author-director would also train the chorus, sometimes compose the music, and supervise every aspect of production. The fact that the director was called didaskalos, the Greek word for teacher, a miniature by Jean Fouquet from 1460 bears one of the earliest depictions of a director at work. Holding a prompt book, the central figure directs, with the aid of a long stick, from Renaissance times up until the 19th century, the role of director was often carried by the actor-manager. This would usually be an actor in a troupe who took the responsibility for choosing the repertoire of work, staging it. This was the case for instance with Commedia dellArte companies and English actor-managers like Colley Cibber, the modern theatre director can be said to have originated in the staging of elaborate spectacles of the Meininger Company under George II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. The management of large numbers of extras and complex stagecraft matters necessitated an individual to take on the role of overall coordinator. This gave rise to the role of the director in modern theatre, simultaneously, Constantin Stanislavski, principally an actor-manager, would set up the Moscow Art Theatre in Russia and similarly emancipate the role of the director as artistic visionary. The French regisseur is also used to mean a stage director. A more common term for theatre director in French is metteur en scène, post World War II, the actor-manager slowly started to disappear, and directing become a fully fledged artistic activity within the theatre profession. The director originating artistic vision and concept, and realizing the staging of a production, a cautionary note was introduced by the famed director Sir Tyrone Guthrie who said the only way to learn how to direct a play, is. To get a group of actors simple enough to allow you to let you direct them, most European countries nowadays know some form of professional directing training, usually at drama schools or conservatoires, or at universities. In the early days such programmes typically led to the staging of one major production in the third year. At the University of California, Irvine, Keith Fowler led for many years a programme based on the premise that directors are autodidacts who need as many opportunities to direct as possible. Under Fowler, graduate student directors would stage between five and ten productions during their residencies, with each production receiving detailed critiques. Directing is an artform that has grown with the development of theatre theory, with the emergence of new trends in theatre, so too have directors adopted new methodologies and engaged in new practices

7.
Designer
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A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that specifies the properties of a design object. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, classically, the main area of design was only architecture, which were understood as the major arts. The design of clothing, furniture, and other artifacts were left mostly to tradition or artisans specializing in hand making them. The classical areas are now subdivided into smaller and more specialized domains of design according to the designed or perhaps its means of production. When designers speak of graphic design they speak of it in terms of simplifying complexity so users do not feel overwhelmed when faced with complex systems, more information can lead to a better, simpler solution to whatever problem the designer is trying to solve. Using research methodology to solve problems is one of the most important aspects of design, it enables the designer to properly assess the clients and audience needs. Part of a job is to get to know the audience they intend on canvassing. The methods of teaching or the program and theories followed vary according to schools, for more complex products, the team will also be composed of professionals from other areas like engineers, advertising specialists, and others as required. Different types of designers include, Architect Design Design engineer Design firm Design thinking Visual arts

8.
Performing arts
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Performing arts are a form of art in which artists use their voices and/or their bodies, often in relation to other objects, to convey artistic expression. It is different from visual arts, which is when artists use paint/canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects, performing arts include several disciplines, each performed in front of a live audience. Artists who participate in performing arts in front of an audience are called performers, examples of these include actors, comedians, dancers, magicians, circus artists, musicians, and singers. Performing arts are supported by workers in related fields, such as songwriting, choreography. A performer who excels in acting, singing, and dancing is commonly referred to as a triple threat, well-known examples of historical triple threat artists include Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, and Judy Garland. Performers often adapt their appearance, such as costumes and stage makeup, stage lighting. Performing arts may include dance, music, opera, theatre and musical theatre, magic, illusion, mime, spoken word, puppetry, circus arts, performance art, recitation and public speaking. There is also a form of fine art, in which the artists perform their work live to an audience. Most performance art also involves some form of art, perhaps in the creation of props. Dance was often referred to as an art during the Modern dance era. Theatre is the branch of performing arts, concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience, using a combination of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound, any one or more of these elements is performing arts. In addition to the standard narrative style of plays. In the context of performing arts, dance generally refers to movement, typically rhythmic and to music. Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on social, cultural, aesthetic artistic and moral constraints and range from functional movement to codified, in dance, the connection between the two concepts is stronger than in some other arts, and neither can exist without the other. Choreography is the art of making dances, and the person who practices this art is called a choreographer, music is an art form which combines pitch, rhythm, and dynamic in order to create sound. It can be performed using a variety of instruments and styles and is divided into genres, as an art form, music can occur in live or recorded formats, and can be planned or improvised. Starting in the 6th century BC, the Classical period of performing art began in Greece and these poets wrote plays which, in some cases, incorporated dance. The Hellenistic period began the use of comedy

9.
Salzburg Marionette Theatre
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Salzburg Marionette Theatre was established in 1913 and is one of the oldest continuing marionette theatres in the world. It is based in the city of Salzburg, Austria, original productions featured live actors and musicians. The Salzburg Marionette Theatre performs a repertoire of operas, ballets. The Salzburg Marionette Theatre was founded in 1913 by Professor Anton Aicher, the original production was Bastien and Bastienne, a marionette version of Mozarts famous opera. The company repertoire expanded the year to incorporate thirteen additional productions. The Salzburg Marionette Theatre grew more adventurous and started to tour its productions abroad, starting in Hamburg, the company made further tours to the Balkan countries. In 1936, it toured the Soviet Union visiting Moscow and Leningrad, as a sign of artistic excellence, the company was awarded the Gold Medal at the 1937 Worlds Fair in Paris. In 1938, the year of the Anschluss, the Salzburg Marionette Theatre made a tour of Germany. With Hermann Aichers return from the war, the Salzburg Marionette Theatre started performing again for the occupying American, British, in 1947, the troupe marked its first German language performances in Paris. The company toured throughout the 1950s and in 1950 the company began to use recorded sound for performances, instead of live actors. The troupe began its first tour of the United States in 1952 under a five-year contract, international touring became a permanent feature of the company, in addition to regular performances in Salzburg. The Salzburg Marionette Theatre had performed in a variety of venues until 1971 when the company acquired its own theatre in the ballroom of the Mirabell Hotel. The first production there was Rossinis Barber of Seville, for the sixtieth anniversary of the founding, two years later, the company and its unique work was the subject of a documentary film. In 1977, the force behind the Salzburg Marionette Theatre. Artistic control passed to Gretl Aicher, to mark the seventieth birthday of Gretl Aicher and the eighty-fifth anniversary of the Salzburg Marionette Theatre, a special exhibition of marionettes opened at the Salzburg Hohensalzburg Fortress. The company revived its production of Bastien and Bastienne in 2007 and premiered a new production of The Sound of Music, Salzburg was home of the Von Trapp family and was featured heavily in the 1965 film production of the same name starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Brisbane Dramatic Arts Company, Salzburg Marionette Theatre homepage of the Salzburg Marionette Theatre Marionette Theatre - Salzburg Guide

10.
Captain Kangaroo
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In 1986, the American Program Service integrated some newly produced segments into reruns of past episodes, distributing the newer version of the series until 1993. The show was conceived and the character was played by Bob Keeshan. Keeshan had portrayed the original Clarabell the Clown on The Howdy Doody Show when it aired on NBC, Keeshan performed as the Captain more than 9000 times over the nearly 30-year run of the show. The May 17,1971, episode had two changes on the show, The Treasure House was renovated and renamed The Captains Place. It was cancelled by CBS at the end of 1984 and he was the voice of Aniforms puppet TV Fred, and was the artist behind the Magic Drawing Board. Sam Levine as The Banana Man, the character was created by Adolph Proper, bill Cosby as himself, the host of the Picture Pages segment Debbie Weems appeared as Debbie, she also provided the voice for the puppet character Baby Duck. Even the opening sequence could change, the show generally began with the theme music starting up, then the Captain would unlock and open the doors of the Treasure House from the inside, and viewers would catch their first glimpse of him. Then he would put the Treasure House keys on a nail, however, sometimes the Captain could not get the keys to stay on the nail, and when they fell off, the theme music would begin playing again. Tom had a sidekick named Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog, other cartoons included Lariat Sam, which was developed by veteran game show announcer Gene Wood, then a show staffer. The British cartoon Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings appeared in the 1970s, another British-produced cartoon, Ludwig, about a magical egg-shaped robot, was also included around the same time as Simon. The cartoons musical score consisted of selections from the works of Beethoven, episodes were generally a few minutes each and basically revolved around teaching children the importance of dental care. A silent cartoon in the 1970s named Crystal Tipps featured the adventures of a young girl, later reruns were narrated by the voice of Mr. Moose. Another British favorite, The Wombles, was also featured, the Red & Blue shorts from Italy were also shown. The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo, featuring a family of sea explorers, was featured, beginning in 1974 and continuing throughout the rest of the 1970s and into the 1980s, the show opened with different people wishing the Captain good morning. Spock, characters from the Peanuts cartoons, and Fred Rogers from Mister Rogers Neighborhood, the montage of good mornings always ended with the Captain himself returning the greeting before the opening credits ran. The Sweet Pickles books were also featured, carmino Ravosa was a songwriter on the show from 1975 to 1977. On the first show of every month, the Captain had a cake for all of the children with birthdays that month. Keeshan also had a role as the Town Clown, a pantomime piece that took place in

11.
The Magic Garden (TV series)
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The Magic Garden is a live-action childrens television program that aired Mondays through Thursdays from March 6,1972, to September 14,1984, on WPIX-11 in the New York City metropolitan area. Produced and broadcast in the worlds largest television market, the show popular with millions of children. Carole and Paula, the characters and hosts of the show, sing several songs throughout each episode. The show takes place entirely within the Magic Garden, a set that includes the Magic Tree. Also found throughout the garden are swings, a path, a shed, and the Chuckle Patch, a giggling bed of flowers that grows leaves with jokes on one side. Many conversations take place at a low wall with Sherlock. Stories are often acted out using costumes and props provided by the Story Box, in addition to songs, games, and jokes, the characters provide life lessons for viewers, and extend personal greetings to members of their television audience—for example, Hello, Judy. The show aired on WPIX at various times during the day on weekdays, at some points, it led out of morning cartoons, leading into religious programming. After 1975, it aired afternoons, leading out of religious, on Fridays until 1981, in place of Magic Garden, another childrens show produced at WPIX called Joyas Fun School aired in its time slot. The hosts Carole Demas and Paula Janis, who had met as students at Brooklyns Midwood High School, in 1971, Demas was invited by WPIX to host an early-afternoon cartoon program. During the audition, Demas suggested an alternative idea, asking Janis to come with her to a second audition, Demas and Janis presented a slower-paced show designed to avoid overstimulating young childrens developing brains. After being hired, the two spent the next year developing The Magic Garden, with the help of former Muppets puppeteer Cary Antebi. Many of the songs featured on the show came from material that Demas. Fifty-two half-hour episodes and a holiday special were produced. According to Carole and Paulas Web site, local ratings were equal to or exceeded those of other shows in its genre, three record albums were released due to a high demand, one of which received a Grammy nomination. The program received a citation from Actions for Childrens Television, on Thanksgiving Day 2002, a special hosted by Carole and Paula aired on WPIX titled The Magic Garden, Still Growing, on which the duo reminisced about the show. This was followed by the broadcast of two episodes shown for the first time on the channel in eighteen years, a DVD including ten episodes, as well as CDs, were released in 2008. WPIX repeated the episode in 2014,2015, and again in 2016 after popular acclaim for the renewed broadcasts, currently, Demas is married and appears on stage, television, film, concerts, and cabaret

12.
Sesame Street
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Sesame Street is a long-running American childrens television series, produced by Sesame Workshop and created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett. The program is known for its content, and images communicated through the use of Jim Hensons Muppets, animation, short films, humor. The show has undergone significant changes throughout its history, with the creation of Sesame Street, producers and writers of a childrens television show used, for the first time, educational goals and a curriculum to shape its content. It was also the first time a shows educational effects were studied, the show was initially funded by government and private foundations but has become somewhat self-supporting due to revenues from licensing arrangements, international sales, and other media. By 2006, there were independently produced versions, or co-productions, in 2001 there were over 120 million viewers of various international versions of Sesame Street, and by the shows 40th anniversary in 2009, it was broadcast in more than 140 countries. By its 40th anniversary in 2009, Sesame Street was the childrens television show in the United States. A1996 survey found that 95% of all American preschoolers had watched the show by the time they were three years old, in 2008, it was estimated that 77 million Americans had watched the series as children. As of 2014, Sesame Street has won 167 Emmy Awards and 8 Grammy Awards—more than any other childrens show, Sesame Street was conceived in 1966 during discussions between television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and Carnegie Foundation vice president Lloyd Morrisett. Their goal was to create a television show that would master the addictive qualities of television and do something good with them. The program premiered on television stations on November 10,1969. It was the first preschool educational television program to base its contents and production values on laboratory, initial responses to the show included adulatory reviews, some controversy, and high ratings. By its 40th anniversary in 2009, Sesame Street was broadcast in over 120 countries, Sesame Street has evolved from its initial inception. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become an American institution, the cast and crew expanded during this time, with emphasis on the hiring of women crew members and the addition of minorities to the cast. The shows success continued into the 1980s, Sesame Streets curriculum has expanded to include more affective topics such as relationships, ethics, and emotions. After the turn of the 21st century, Sesame Street made major structural changes, for example, starting in 2002, its format became more narrative and included ongoing storylines. After its thirtieth anniversary in 1999 and due to the popularity of the Muppet Elmo, upon its fortieth anniversary in 2009, the show received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy at the 36th Daytime Emmy Awards. In April 2017, Sesame Street will introduce a new puppet called Julia with Autism to the show, and will be voiced by Stacey Gordon, who started Puppet Pie and has a son on the autism spectrum. From its first episode, Sesame Street has structured its format by using a visual style, fast-moving action, humor

13.
Andy Pandy
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Andy Pandy is a British childrens television series that premiered on BBC TV in summer 1950. Originally live, a series of 13 filmed programmes was shown in 1970, a reboot of the show was made in 2001. The show was the basis for a strip of the same name in the childrens magazines Robin and Pippin. The original version of Andy Pandy premiered on BBC TV in 1950, on either 11 July or 20 June, initially the programmes were transmitted live, but it was realised that if the programmes were filmed, they could be repeated. Twenty-six episodes of fifteen minutes duration were filmed on 16mm, and were produced around 1952 and this version had narration by Maria Bird. In one episode Andy Pandy sees how high he can go on a swing, all the filmed black and white 1950s original transmissions were narrated by Maria Bird, who was to become a co-producer, with Freda Lingstrom, who worked for the BBC. Bird was a writer of books for the very young, notably Andy Pandy. A marionette who lived in a basket, Andy was later joined by Teddy, a teddy bear, and Looby Loo, a rag doll. Looby Loo had her own special song Here we go Looby Loo, all three lived in the same picnic basket. Each episode ended with a variation on the song, Time to go home, Time to go home and it is claimed that the design for the character was based on Paul Atterbury, the then young son of puppeteer Audrey Atterbury. A comic-strip version was published in Robin, the production staff for the original series were, Producer, Freda Lingstrom. Narrator, Maria Bird Writer/composer, Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird, singers, Gladys Whitred, Julia Williams Puppeteers, Audrey Atterbury, Molly Gibson, Martin Grainger. By 1970, the black and white films were almost worn out, the 13 Episodes of the 1970 series are 1. Sailing Boats Another set of 52 episodes was made in 2001, whereas the emphasis of the original series was on music and movement, the emphasis of the 2001 series was on making and doing. Here are the episodes and songs in order, the numbers means its an episode and the word song means its a song. Hide and Seek SONG, Hopscotch 2, the Man From The Moon SONG, Musical Chairs 6. Tiffo and his Stick SONG, Painting 8, a Flying Feather SONG, Boxes 10. The Birthday Cake SONG, Gardening 12, Andy Pandys Musical Box SONG, Looby Loo 14

14.
Flower Pot Men
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The Flower Pot Men is a British childrens programme, produced by BBC television, first transmitted in 1952, and repeated regularly for more than twenty years. The show was the basis for a strip of the same name in the childrens magazine Robin. A reboot of the show called Bill and Ben was produced in 2001, originally, the programme was part of a BBC childrens television series titled Watch with Mother, with a different programme each weekday, most of them involving string puppets. The Flower Pot Men was the story of Bill and Ben, the characters were devised by Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird. Three later stories were written by Hilda Brabban, the puppeteers were Audrey Atterbury and Molly Gibson. The voices and other noises were produced by Peter Hawkins, Gladys Whitred, the narration for all episodes was done by Maria Bird. The plot changed little in each episode, the programme always took place in a garden, behind a potting shed. The third character was Little Weed, of species, somewhat resembling a sunflower or dandelion with a smiling face. The three were sometimes visited by a tortoise called Slowcoach, and in one particular episode. While the man who worked in the garden was away having his dinner the two Flower Pot Men, Bill and Ben, emerged from the two flowerpots, after a minor adventure a minor mishap occurs, someone is guilty. Which of those two flower pot men, was it Bill or was it Ben, the final punch-line was, and I think the little house knew something about it. The Flower Pot Men spoke their own, highly inflected version of English, called Oddle Poddle, which was invented by Peter Hawkins. At the end of each adventure, they would say bye-bye to each other and this language, like that of the Teletubbies in the 1990s, was criticised for hindering children from learning proper English. Amongst fans there is controversy about whether they actually said Flobbalob and this reboot features the voices of John Thomson, Jimmy Hibbert and Eve Karpf. The series aired in Ireland on RTEjr and formerly aired on CBeebies in 2002-2008, many additions were implemented, A mean female rosebush with two talking buds in the neighbours garden named Rose. A mischievous female prickly plant named Thistle, a female magpie named Pry, obsessed by shiny treasures, often just bottle caps. Slowcoach remains in the series, with few changes to his characteristics and he gets angry at Bill & Ben for ruining his things. A male baby squirrel named Scuff, a male talking tomato named Ketchup

15.
The Woodentops (TV series)
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The Woodentops was a childrens television series first shown on BBC Television in 1955. Created by Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird, it featured on the Friday edition of Watch with Mother, the main characters are the members of a middle-class family living on a farm. The aim of the programme was to teach children about family life. Daddy Woodentop Mummy Woodentop Jenny Woodentop Willy Woodentop Baby Woodentop Spotty Dog The children, Jenny and they spoke, walked and did many things together. Paper Hats The Woodentops was filmed in a tin shed at the BBCs Lime Grove Studios, the narrator/storyteller for all episodes, who also provided the dialogue for Mummy Woodentop, was Maria Bird who, typical of BBC presenters of the time, spoke with Received Pronunciation. Daddy Woodentop, being a farmer, spoke with a noticeable West Country accent, although set on a farm, at an unspecified location, each episode began with the whole family being introduced as they sat in front of a tall curtain, apparently on a stage. Episodes closed with the family grouped in the pose, with the word GOODBYE superimposed above. The music at the beginning and end of story is taken from the 22nd piece of the set of 25 Norwegian folk songs and dances for piano. This music, which is short in duration, is called Kulokk. It is divided two sections, the first of which is used for the introduction and the second part for the end of each story. It occasionally appears as a leitmotif in the stories, hummed by Mummy Woodentop from time to time, in 1983 the original puppets were stolen from the BBC. They were spotted a year later in a room in London. The puppets are now in the Museum of Londons permanent collection, in 2009 the Woodentops appeared in The Official BBC Children in Need Medley music video which reached No.1 in the UK singles chart. Daddy & Mummy Woodentop appeared in the video, Jenny appears on the front cover of the CD & DVD, more information British Film Institute article

16.
Don Austen
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Don Austen is an English puppeteer. He began his career in 1981 at Cannon Hill Parks puppet theatre in Birmingham, Austen joined the Jim Henson Creature Shop in 1986 for the movie Labyrinth. Most notably he performed in The Muppet Christmas Carol, inside both the Ghost of Christmas Present and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and he also managed briefly to boost numbers in Muppet Treasure Island as Pirate Crew and Cannibals. Austens British TV debut was on the irreverent cult ITV puppet show Spitting Image, Austen voiced and puppeteered Sky Ones DJ Kat for more than 2000 award-winning DJ Kat Shows and 200 breakfast shows as Earl E Bird on Channel 4s Early Bird. Austen voiced/puppeteered feline gang leader Danny Mogg in comedy drama series The Wild Bunch and this TF1/Channel 4 co-production, recorded at AB Studios Paris, was a vehicle for French TV star Dorothee. During the LIVE ITV Saturday morning show Whats Up Doc, Austen teamed up with John Eccleston to write and puppeteer a run of British TV favourites. Firstly, The Wolves, aka Bro & Bro, and within weeks earn their own spin-off comedy drama Wolf It. for four seasons, as Mr. Sage, sporting a rather dodgy hairpiece, Austen wrote and puppeteered comedy sketches for five years. Outliving three sets of in vision presenters, he became the longest surviving presenter, to cover Ecclestons sojourn an overbearing long lost sister joined the cast. Shamrock was puppeteered by Rebecca Nagan and this series, hosted by Zoë Ball and Jamie Theakston, won a BAFTA in 1999. Patricks Day Celebrations During 1999, Austen was hand-picked by master puppeteer Frank Oz to help him portray Yoda in Star Wars Episode I, for this complex puppet, Oz needed three helpers, including Austen, David Greenaway and Kathy Smee. Next was a return to the Henson fold, and all 250 episodes of BAFTA winning TV series The Hoobs, here he voiced and puppeteered the excitable, vulnerable purple Hoob, Iver, alongside John Eccleston as Groove. The production was the largest ever pre-school commission by a UK independent and it gained Gemini Award nominations for three consecutive years, Best Performance in a Pre-School Series. MOM changed its format and was renamed Holly & Stephens Saturday Showdown, retaining presenters Holly Willoughby, scratch featured largely in the slimmed down line up. Austen notched up 6 series as voice and puppeteer on CBBCs Basil Brush Show playing evil Cousin Mortimer, the show was shortlisted for a BAFTA in 2006. Basil & Bingo performed at Buckingham Palace for the Childrens Party at the Palace, Austen puppeteered Wooly the Sheep in the Woolworths TV/radio commercials with Eccleston as sidekick Worth the Dog. The ad campaigns were shot in London and Prague, the Hyenas recorded 15 gameshows for Granada Kids – CITV In 2006, Austen and Eccleston worked on a pilot for MTV. In 2007 The Leprechauns returned for the Christmas Puppet Special of the BBCs The Weakest Link and they were voted off after the first round. In January 2008, Don and John were invited to join the newly commissioned Fur TV team for MTV, performing the puppet characters Fat Ed

17.
Labyrinth
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In Greek mythology, the labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur eventually killed by the hero Theseus, Daedalus had so cunningly made the Labyrinth that he could barely escape it after he built it. Even as the designs became more elaborate, visual depictions of the mythological Labyrinth from Roman times until the Renaissance are almost invariably unicursal, branching mazes were reintroduced only when garden mazes became popular during the Renaissance. In English, the labyrinth is generally synonymous with maze. As a result of the history of unicursal representation of the mythological Labyrinth, however, many contemporary scholars. In this specialized usage refers to a complex branching multicursal puzzle with choices of path and direction. A labyrinth in this sense has a route to the center and back. Unicursal labyrinths appeared as designs on pottery or basketry, as body art, the Romans created many primarily decorative unicursal designs on walls and floors in tile or mosaic. Many labyrinths set in floors or on the ground are large enough that the path can be walked, unicursal patterns have been used historically both in group ritual and for private meditation, and are increasingly found for therapeutic use in hospitals and hospices. Labyrinth is a word of Pre-Greek origin, which the Greeks associated with the palace of Knossos in Crete and this designation may not have been limited to Knossos, because the same symbols were discovered in other palaces in Crete. Labrys was a cult-word that was introduced from Anatolia, where such symbols have been found in Çatal Höyük from the Neolithic age. In Labraunda of Caria the double-axe accompanies the storm-god Zeus Labraundos and it also accompanies the Hurrian god of sky and storm Teshub. Labrys, however, comes from Lydian, not Minoan, the Linear B inscription

18.
Bil Baird
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William Britton Bil Baird was an American puppeteer of the mid- and late 20th century. One of his known creations was Charlemane the lion. He and his wife Cora Eisenberg Baird produced and performed the famous sequence for The Lonely Goatherd in the film version of The Sound of Music. He wrote The Art of the Puppet and also provided the puppets for Dark Shadows, Baird also created the expandable nose Peter Noone wore as Pinocchio in the 1968 musical adaptation of the Carlo Collodi story that aired on NBC as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special. Born in Grand Island, Nebraska, Baird grew up in Mason City, Baird traced his love of puppets to the moment when his father made him a simple string puppet when he was eight. In 1921, he attended a performance of the Tony Sarg production of “Rip Van Winkle”. By the time he was fourteen, Baird was creating his own puppets, a graduate of the University of Iowa and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, he began work with childhood idol Tony Sarg in New York City in 1928. In 1934, Baird formed his own company, the Baird Marionettes and their first performance was at the Chicago’s World’s Fair. In 1951, Bairds Marionettes performed some of the roles in the Broadway musical Flahooley, in a career that spanned over 60 years, Baird and his puppets performed for millions. In 1956 Bairds puppets Gargle and Snarky appeared in Adventures in Numbers and Space, during the 1964/65 Worlds Fair in New York City, Bairds Marionettes hosted The Show-Go-Round, an elaborate musical exhibit in the Chrysler Pavilion. Opening in 1967, the Bil Baird Marionette Theater at 59 Barrow Street in Greenwich Village presented plays for more than a decade. Among them, Ali Baba, The Wizard of Oz, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie-the-Pooh, Peter and the Wolf, Davy Jones Locker, and The Whistling Wizard, Bil Bairds children Laura and Peter sold nearly all of the Bil Baird Marionettes at auction. This 800-lot auction sale was held at The Greenwich Auction Room,110 East 13th Street, in December 1988 Bil Bairds Marionettes played at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York. Mary Rodgers was the composer, Sheldon Harnick wrote the lyrics

19.
Bob Baker Marionette Theater
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The Bob Baker Marionette Theater, founded by Bob Baker and Alton Wood in 1963, is the oldest childrens theater company in Los Angeles. In June 2009, the theater was designated as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, Bob Baker was an American puppeteer whose marionettes have entertained thousands of children and adults worldwide for more than 70 years. At age eight, Baker trained with several different Los Angeles-based companies before giving his first professional performance for director Mervyn Leroy, while attending Hollywood High School, he began manufacturing toy marionettes that sold both in Europe and the United States. After graduation he became an apprentice at the George Pal Animation Studios, a year later he was promoted to head animator of Puppetoons. After World War II, Baker served as an advisor at many film studios. His puppetry was featured on TV in Bewitched, Star Trek, Land of the Giants and NCIS, blues, Disneys Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Baker was also instrumental in championing union membership for puppeteers, as a result, Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA now recognize puppeteers as actors with a special skill. He has also provided a place of learning for the generation of puppeteers, including Scott Land. Baker and partner Alton Wood turned a run-down scenic shop near downtown Los Angeles into a family entertainment institution, the Bob Baker Marionettes have performed around the globe, with an inventory of nearly three thousand puppets. Like Bil Baird before him, Bob Baker is an American pioneer in the art of puppetry, the theater was built in 1953. It is a commercial building of modern Vernacular architecture. The theater is believed to have built as a workshop for Academy Award-winning special effects artist M. B. Paul. In 1961, Baker and Alton Wood purchased the property for use as a puppet theater. The Bob Baker Marionette Theater is reportedly the longest-running puppet theater in the United States, during the June 2009 Los Angeles City Council meeting at which the theater received its historic monument designation, Bakers marionettes made an appearance. Puppeteer Bob Baker died on November 28,2014 of natural causes, list of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in the Wilshire and Westlake areas Le Theatre de Marionette The New York Times bio on Bob Baker Mal Sharpe and Jennifer Sharpe. Photo Walls, Bob Bakers Marionette Theater, Bob Baker Marionette Theater Bob Baker at the Internet Movie Database Article on Bob Baker Marionette Theatre at Atlas Obscura

20.
Ernie (Sesame Street)
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Ernie is a Muppet character on the long-running PBS childrens television show, Sesame Street. He and his roommate Bert form the comic duo Bert and Ernie, one of the centerpieces, with Ernie acting the role of the naïve troublemaker. Ernie has a distinctive, chuckling laugh, in addition, Ernie has no visible eyebrows, while Bert displays a unibrow. Ernie is well known for his fondness for baths with his Rubber Duckie, many Ernie and Bert sketches involve Ernie wanting to play a game with Bert, who would much rather do something else. Ernie keeps annoying Bert with the game until Bert joins — and usually, by the time Bert starts enjoying the game, Ernie is tired of playing the game and wants to do something else. Other sketches have involved them sharing some food by dividing it equally, only for one of them to have a bit more than the other and he has regularly appeared in skits with Cookie Monster, Sherlock Hemlock and Lefty the Salesman. From season 33 until season 36, he and Big Bird starred in a segment called Journey to Ernie. Ernie was one of the hosts of the show Play with Me Sesame, one regular segment that he hosted was Ernie Says, a variation of Simon Says. Ernie sang about his affection for Rubber Duckie in a skit, the song from that skit – titled Rubber Duckie – became a modest mainstream hit, reaching No.16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1970. Ernie has appeared in both of the Sesame Street movies, in Follow That Bird, he and Bert searched for Big Bird by plane. Ernie piloted the plane, and eventually, after they found Big Bird, he flew the plane upside-down, however, after they lost Big Bird, Ernie blamed Bert. In The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, Ernie and Bert served as hosts, Bert was worried about the bad bits, but Ernie clammed him by saying Bert, nothing bad is going to happen. Ernie reveals in Sesame Street Episode 257 that his activities include watching parades, circuses. A typical Bert and Ernie skit has Ernie coming up with a hare-brained idea, the age of Bert and Ernie is regularly discussed on forums. Nothing official has ever said, but most consider the duo adults. Helping suggestions of the characters being young is a comment by Sesame Street Live performer, Morgan said to the Macon Telegraph that I just kind of try to think like a 6–year–old or a 7–year–old, because thats how old Bert is. However, Berts twin brother Bart is depicted as a traveling salesman, Ernie also appeared in the finales of The Muppet Movie and The Muppets Take Manhattan, in the last of which he got a line. In Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Ernie decided to buy Bert a cigar box to store his paper clips in, however, as he did not have any money, he traded his own Rubber Duckie for it

21.
Jennifer Barnhart
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Jennifer Barnhart is an American puppeteer, actress and voice-over talent, with a portfolio of television and theatre performances. She is one of the rarely seen left-handed puppeteers. Barnhart was born and grew up in Hamden, Connecticut and she graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting with a concentration in puppetry. Barnhart made her Broadway debut in 2003 and is a performer in the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q. She also stars as Cleo on PBSs literacy education series, Between the Lions, Barnhart is a Sesame Street Muppet performer who took over the roles of Mama Bear in 2001 and Gladys the Cow in 2002. Barnhart also worked as a puppeteer in Johnny and the Sprites, starting on Season 46 of Sesame Street, she will be performing Zoe, following the retirement of Fran Brill in 2014. She appeared on screen as a puppeteer on Law & Order, SVU in May 2006, in regional theatre, she played the angel in Angels in America, and Olivia in Twelfth Night and Cassie in Rumors. In 2011 she appeared as the police officer Randy Osteen in Tracy Lettss new play Superior Donuts at the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia, in 2010, she portrayed a Chicago Police Department Detective, Lorna Diamond, in the Law & Order, SVU episode, Behave. com

22.
Between the Lions
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Between the Lions is a PBS Kids puppet television series designed to promote reading. The show was a co-production between WGBH in Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd. in New York City, in association with Mississippi Public Broadcasting, the show has won seven Daytime Emmy awards between 2001 and 2007. The target audience is children 5–8 years old and it has the same puppet style as Sesame Street and several season 2 episodes, notably in Dance in Smarty Pants, had a few characters from Sesame Street guest appearing. The show premiered on April 3,2000, replacing The Puzzle Place, between the Lions started its 10th and final season on September 20,2010, and the series finale aired on November 22 of that same year. It aired on PBS Kids until reruns ceased on August 31,2011, some episodes even have featured adaptions of well-known folktales or ancient myths or fables, while others have featured popular storybooks such as Click, Clack, Moo. Cows that Type, or shown the lions learning or benefiting from the lessons presented by the story, a distinctive feature of the series is that it is virtually never set outside of the library, as it usually chronicles the lions experiences within it. Another segment features a pair of pigeons named Walter and Clay comically infuriating a living bust of the deceased founder. Busterfield III, located in a section of the library. The main characters are the lion cubs Lionel and Leona and their parents Theo and Cleo, busterfield III – A grumpy, armless, and legless rock statue that is the founder of the library, which is named after him, and lives on the second floor. He is often annoyed by the antics of Walter and Clay Pigeon and, being a statue. He is more annoyed by anyone calling him Buster since he hates being called that for some reason and it is unknown if he knows the main characters or not, but it is possible that he might know them. Walter and Clay Pigeon – The two birds that Barnaby talks to, and they talk to him, thats why he says, dont call me Buster. Walter is the pigeon and Clay is the female pigeon. Walter and Clay Pigeon are true urban birds, but lets just say theyre not the brightest lights in the sky—without each others help. That means Walter doesnt manage to say complete sentences without Clays help, dr. Alexander Graham Nitwhite is a pelican scientist. In his skits, he announces to Watson that hes discovered the word in the entire English language with a certain letter combination. However, his discoveries always turn out to be incorrect, as Watson inadvertently points out, as such and his name is a pun on Alexander Graham Bell, the creator of the telephone. Information Hen – The librarys information specialist, Each time she appears, she gives information about the library and reading to various callers

23.
Teddy Ruxpin
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Teddy Ruxpin is an animatronic childrens toy in the form of a talking bear. The bears mouth and eyes moved while reading stories that were played on a tape cassette deck built into its back. It was created by Ken Forsse with later assistance by Larry Larsen and John Davies, later versions would use a digital cartridge in place of a cassette. A cartoon based on the characters debuted in 1987, conventional Compact Cassettes carried two audio tracks for stereo sound reproduction. Teddy Ruxpin cassettes used the track for audio and the right track for a control data stream. The data stream controlled servomotors that moved the eyes and mouth and could divert the audio signal to Grubby. This allowed the two to engage in pre-recorded interactions, Grubby only worked with the initial WOW release of Teddy Ruxpin. If a conventional audio cassette was played in Teddy Ruxpin, this would be detected, early versions of the toy used three servo motors, but this was reduced to two in later versions. From his debut in September 1985 various toy makers have produced Teddy Ruxpin over the years, the first was Worlds Of Wonder from 1985 until its bankruptcy in 1988. The toys rights were sold to Hasbro, and produced again from 1991 to 1996. Another version debuted in 1998 by YES, in 2006, the latest version of Teddy Ruxpin, created by BackPack Toys, debuted. Shortly after his debut, Teddy Ruxpin was dubbed the Official Spokesbear for the National Center for Missing, Teddy Ruxpin was first produced in 1985 by toy manufacturer Worlds of Wonder. They also released the companion toy Grubby and several other non-animatronic companion toys and this included two different versions of the bird-like Fobs that were hand puppets with a sock-like, extendable neck. Other hand puppets were the larger Wooly Whats-It, three interchangeable Anythings, Tweeg, and L. B, other items produced by Worlds of Wonder for Teddy Ruxpin were the Answer Box and Picture Show. With the strength of its line of toys, Worlds of Wonder’s fortunes rose well beyond its assets, stock trades by company officers spooked investors. Attempting to stem the tide, WoW issued Non-Investment Grade Bonds, commonly known as junk bonds, although there is some contention as to whether this strategy would have helped, the attempt was made moot by the 1987 stock market crash. Worlds of Wonder filed for protection and was liquidated in 1988. They went through a series of layoffs, the creditors continued to operate the company in receivership until finally closing its doors in late 1990

24.
Pepe the King Prawn
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Pepé the King Prawn is a Muppet character created for Muppets Tonight and performed by Bill Barretta, originally as part of a vaudeville double act with Seymour the Elephant. Pepé is Spanish and speaks with an accent, punctuating his sentences with Okay. His character plays on many Latino stereotypes, he has a fiery temper and his conscience usually wins out and makes him do whats right in the end. He, Big Mean Carl, and Bobo the Bear are the only Muppet characters exclusively created for Muppets Tonight that are prominent in The Muppets franchise. Pepé appeared in fourteen episodes of Muppets Tonight, proved a hit with audiences and has returned many times since. He has major roles in Muppets from Space, Its a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, The Muppets Wizard of Oz, and A Muppets Christmas, Letters to Santa. He also appears in 2011s The Muppets, though in keeping with that films focus on the original Muppet Show cast and he appears in the 2014 film Muppets Most Wanted. Though he has more time than in The Muppets, his dialogue is limited. His most prominent scene in the film features him gambling on the train with hip-hop mogul Sean Combs. He is a regular on The Muppets as a writer for the show-within-a-show. In 2002, he was the spokesprawn for restaurant chain Long John Silvers and he has also made many television appearances on shows including Americas Funniest Home Videos, The Jay Leno Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and Dancing with the Stars. The parody self-help book Its Hard Out Here for a Shrimp is attributed to Pepé, Bill Barretta has remained Pepés performer since his 1996 debut on Muppets Tonight. However, Drew Massey performed Pepé in a test pilot for the web series Statler and Waldorf, pepe the King Prawn on Muppet Wiki, an external wiki

25.
Johnny Fiama
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The Muppets are a group of comedic puppet characters originally created by Jim Henson who have appeared in multiple television series and films since the 1950s. The majority of the characters listed here originated on The Muppet Show, since then, several more characters have been introduced in other television series, as well as theatrical films. The first Muppet characters appeared in Sam and Friends, a Washington, Kermit the Frog was one of the shows regulars, and thus was one of Hensons first Muppet creations. The characters became a name after their appearance in the childrens television program Sesame Street. Henson was initially reluctant to become involved with Sesame Street because he feared being pigeon-holed as a childrens performer, the characters created for that series are now owned by the Sesame Workshop, the producers of Sesame Street, and are now considered a separate franchise. These characters have been owned by The Walt Disney Company since 2004, when Disney acquired them from The Jim Henson Company, Performed by Jim Henson, Steve Whitmire A pragmatic frog who is the straight man protagonist and de facto leader of the Muppet ensemble. He starred on The Muppet Show, as the showrunner, responsible for managing the shows production, Henson was Kermits performer from his debut until Hensons death in 1990. Steve Whitmire assumed the role and has continued to perform Kermit since then, Performed by Frank Oz, Eric Jacobson A temperamental diva pig who is the Muppets break-out and authentic superstar. Until 2015, she was the significant other of Kermits. Authors Maryanne Fisher and Anthony Cox call Piggy uniquely strong and feminine and she was designed and built by Bonnie Erickson. Debuted in a 1974 Herb Alpert television special, where she was performed by Jerry Nelson and she is Ozs most well-known character. Performed by Frank Oz, Eric Jacobson A naive, comically-disinclined bear introduced in The Muppet Show, fozzies characterization was created by Frank Oz, who performed the character from his debut in 1976 until Ozs retirement in 2000. Eric Jacobson has performed the character since then, Finch calls Fozzie a sweetly insecure and absolutely terrible comedian. According to Oz, Fozzie is such a bad comedian that he cant afford good joke writers and he was designed by Michael K. Frith. Performed by Dave Goelz An eccentric hooked-nosed stunt performer and performance artist who debuted in The Great Santa Claus Switch as the Cigar Box Frackle. Gonzos species has always been ambiguous, ranging from a Frackle in his early years, to avian in subsequent portrayals. He was created by Dave Goelz, who has performed Gonzo since his inception, Performed by Jim Henson, Bill Barretta A plainspoken pianist dog who first appeared in Purina Dog Chow commercials. He was designed by Jim Henson and he then appeared in The Jimmy Dean Show, as Jimmy Deans sidekick

26.
Rowlf the Dog
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Rowlf the Dog is a Muppet character, a scruffy brown dog of indeterminate breed, though part Corgi, with a rounded black nose and long floppy ears. He was created and originally performed by Jim Henson, Rowlf is the Muppet Theatres resident pianist, as well as one of the shows main cast members. Calm and wisecracking, his humor is characterized as deadpan and as such, is one of few Muppets who is rarely flustered by the shows prevalent mayhem and he is very easy going and a fan of classical music and musicals. Rowlf was introduced in 1962 for Purina Dog Chow TV commercials aired in Canada, Jim Henson designed Rowlf, and Don Sahlin built him, it was Sahlins first Muppet construction. Rowlf rose to popularity as Jimmy Deans sidekick on The Jimmy Dean Show, performed by Henson and he was the first Muppet with a regular spot on network television appearing in numerous episodes from 1963 to 1966. Jimmy Dean stated that the segments with Rowlf were one of the most popular parts of the show, in 1968, Rowlf appeared with Kermit the Frog on the pitch reel for Sesame Street. In 1976, Rowlf joined the recurring cast of The Muppet Show as the shows pianist, Rowlf also played Dr. Bob, the wisecracking doctor in the recurring medical drama parody skit Veterinarians Hospital, alongside nurses Janice and Piggy. Though considered one of the characters, he rarely interacted with any of the backstage plots involving the shows weekly guest stars. Rowlf achieved movie stardom with his appearance in The Muppet Movie, the film depicts Rowlfs origin as a musician at a piano bar, who is discovered by Kermit while on his way to Hollywood. In the scene, Rowlf and Kermit sing the duet I Hope That Somethin Better Comes Along, a song about their troubles with women. Afterwards Rowlf leaves the bar and joins Kermit and the other Muppets on their trip to Hollywood in search of fame and he later plays the harmonica during Gonzos song Im Going to Go Back There Someday. In 1984, Baby Rowlf debuted playing a toy piano during a number in The Muppets Take Manhattan. This fantasy sequence with the Muppets as babies was so popular that it resulted in the animated cartoon spinoff. He was voiced on that program by Katie Leigh, Jim Hensons last public performance as Rowlf before his death was as guest on The Arsenio Hall Show in 1990. Since 1996, Rowlf has been portrayed by puppeteer Bill Barretta, Barretta has gradually transitioned into the role. Rowlf uttered his first word since Hensons death in the episode of Muppets Tonight. Rowlf had several lines of dialogue in The Muppet Show Live in 2001, in 2005, however, Rowlf had a 190-word monologue in the second episode of Statler and Waldorf, From the Balcony. Rowlf appeared in the Keep Fishin music video for rock band Weezer, although hes only briefly seen, Rowlf had a more prominent role in the behind the scenes making-of special that accompanied it, Weezer and the Muppets Go Fishin

27.
Swedish Chef
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The Swedish Chef is a Muppet character that appeared on The Muppet Show. He was originally performed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz simultaneously, with Henson performing the head and voice, the Swedish Chef is currently performed by Bill Barretta. A parody of television chefs, the Swedish Chef wears a toque blanche and has bushy eyebrows that completely obscure his eyes. The songs lyrics vary slightly from one episode to the next, after this introduction, the Chef begins to prepare a recipe while giving a gibberish explanation of what he is doing. His commentary is spiced with the occasional English word to clue in the viewer to what he is attempting, for example and these hints are necessary as he frequently uses unorthodox culinary equipment to prepare his dishes. In the pilot episode of The Muppet Show, the Chefs commentary was supplemented by Chinese subtitles, the sketch typically degenerates into a slapstick finale where the equipment or ingredients get the better of him. In the sketch Bomb Egg, an explosive charge slightly damaged the face of the puppet. The Chefs face remained scarred through the rest of the season, the Chef is referred to by name in one episode, in which Danny Kaye plays his uncle. Kaye reels off a long name but adds, But we call him Tom – much to the Chefs amusement. In 2010, the Chef was seen wearing a ring, implying that the character is married. Some claim that the Swedish Chef was inspired by a real life chef, one example is Friedman Paul Erhardt, a German American television chef known as Chef Tell. Another example is Lars Kuprik Bäckman, a real life Swedish chef, bäckmans Dalecarlian accent would explain the chefs strange pronunciation. According to Brian Henson, in one of his introductions for The Muppet Show, had this tape that he used to play which was How to Speak Mock Swedish, and he used to drive to work and I used to ride with him a lot. And he would drive to work trying to make a sandwich in Mock Swedish or make a turkey casserole in Mock Swedish. It was the most ridiculous thing you had ever seen, and people at traffic lights used to stop and sort of look at him a little crazy. But that was the roots of the character that would become the Swedish Chef. Swedes generally have an impression of the Swedish Chef stemming from the fact that, to Swedes. The sing-song quality of the characters mock language is suggestive of Norwegian, despite both languages being closely related and maintaining some mutual intelligibility, the melodies are quite different

28.
Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem
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Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem is a Muppet rock house band that debuted on The Muppet Show. Following The Muppet Show, they appeared in various Muppet movies and television specials, Dr. Teeth and Animal were designed by Jim Henson, while the rest of the original band members were designed by Michael K. Frith. They made their debut in 1975s The Muppet Show, Sex and Violence, the band consists of Dr. Teeth on vocals and keyboards, Animal on drums, Floyd Pepper on bass guitar, Janice on guitar, and Zoot on saxophone. In season five of the show, Lips joined the band on trumpet, Animal, Floyd, and Zoot also played in the Muppet Show pit band, performing the opening and closing themes and underscoring most of the Muppet Show performances. Lips and occasionally Janice appeared in the orchestra in later episodes, though Lips made some appearances with the group after The Muppet Show ended production, the group later reverted to its original line-up. Also, the pilot episode featured Jim, a Muppet caricature of Jim Henson on banjo. The bands first film role was performing the song Can You Picture That. in The Muppet Movie and they also performed Saturday Night Life and participated in The Happiness Hotel in The Great Muppet Caper, and performed Jingle Bell Rock in A Muppet Family Christmas. They appeared in The Muppets Take Manhattan, where Dr. Teeth sang You Cant Take No For An Answer, following the deaths of two of the groups puppeteers, Jim Henson, and Richard Hunt, they were limited to brief instrumental background music for years. However, Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem backed Miss Piggy for a song in The Muppets Wizard of Oz and performed alongside Miley Cyrus in the Studio DC, Almost Live television special. They have been a mainstay in the Muppets viral video efforts of the 2010s, in 2015, they released two music videos, for Jungle Boogie and Kodachrome. The band performed a live set at the Outside Lands Festival on August 6,2016. Performed by Jim Henson, John Kennedy, Bill Barretta Dr. Teeth is the keyboard player and he is green-skinned and red-haired with a large grinning mouth of teeth, including a gold tooth supposedly fashioned by melting down his gold records. He sports a red beard with no mustache, a fur vest, a striped shirt. His self-introduction in The Muppet Movie was typically grandiose, Golden teeth and he often misuses long words and mangles verb conjugation. Jim Henson originally performed him, basing the character on New Orleans musician Dr. John and he was designed by Henson and Michael K. Frith and built by Don Sahlin. He debuted in The Muppet Show, Sex and Violence, Dr. Teeth only sings lead vocals on the second Muppet pilot and during the first season and these songs were only written before Rowlf had become firmly established as the regular Muppet pianist. Later performances mostly feature lead vocals by Floyd or Janice and only a few featured Dr. Teeth, Dr. Teeths first major speaking role since Hensons death was in Statler and Waldorfs very own show, Statler and Waldorf, From the Balcony, where Victor Yerrid performed him. Bill Barretta, however, has been performing Dr. Teeth consistently, although being the band leader, Dr. Teeth is never featured in the regular orchestra playing at The Muppet Show like the rest of the group

29.
Trace Beaulieu
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Trace Beaulieu is an American puppeteer, writer, and actor. He is best known for his roles on Mystery Science Theater 3000 as well as his work with MST3Ks successor Cinematic Titanic with the original creators, in 2010 he published a book of poems entitled Silly Rhymes For Belligerent Children with illustrations by artist Len Peralta. He recently filmed a short film entitled Frank with the original MST3K cast, including Bill Corbett. Beaulieu briefly attended the University of Minnesota, for the first eight seasons of MST3K, Beaulieu wrote for the show, operated and voiced the Crow T. Robot puppet, and played the role of Dr. Clayton Forrester, at the end of a truncated seventh season, Beaulieu left the series. Pearl Forrester replaced him as the mad scientist and Bill Corbett took over the voicing. Beaulieu appeared as a semi-regular in Freaks and Geeks as the biology teacher. He also appeared in The West Wing episode Bad Moon Rising, for the last few years, Beaulieu has been a writer for Americas Funniest Home Videos. In 2002, he was the writer, producer. He has since starred in the 2010 computer game Darkstar, The Interactive Movie as first officer Ross Perryman, in 2013, he reprised his role as Crow for a brief cameo appearance in two episodes of the fourth season of Arrested Development, along with Joel. In 2015, Beaulieu appeared as ART in the Yahoo. original comedy series, outside of acting, Beaulieu also wrote the script for the one-shot comic book Here Come the Big People, published by Event Comics. In 2010, Beaulieu completed work on a poetry book, Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children. Beaulieu appeared on Ken Reids TV Guidance Counselor podcast on June 16,2016, Beaulieu is currently the co-host of the comedic podcast on Cave Comedy Radio, Movie Sign with the Mads, with Frank Conniff and Carolina Hidalgo where they discuss current and classic movies. On October 30,2007, Joel Hodgson announced he was starting a new series — distributed on DVD — with the same riffing on bad movies premise as MST3K. Called Cinematic Titanic, it featured several former MST3K cast and crew members, Beaulieu, J. Elvis Weinstein, Frank Conniff, Cinematic Titanic completed its final tour on December 30,2013. Trace Beaulieu at the Internet Movie Database

30.
Mystery Science Theater 3000
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Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc. The show premiered on KTMA in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24,1988 and it later aired on The Comedy Channel/Comedy Central for another six seasons until its cancellation in 1997. Thereafter, it was picked up by The Sci-Fi Channel and aired for three seasons until another cancellation in August 1999. Over the series ten seasons,197 episodes and a film were produced. In 1995, there was also The Mystery Science Theater Hour, in 2015, Hodgson led a crowd funded revival of the series with at least fourteen episodes in its first season, to initially broadcast on Netflix in April 2017. These scenes were framed with interstitial sketches, the shows cast changed over its duration, most notably, the character of Joel was replaced by Mike Nelson in the shows fifth season. The revival will feature a new cast, including Jonah Ray as the new human test subject, along with Felicia Day. Factory, who along with Hodgson now own the rights to the show, MST3K was listed as one of Time magazines 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME in 2007, and TV Guide has noted MST3K as one of the top cult television shows. The show won a Peabody Award in 1993, was nominated for two Emmy Awards in 1994 and 1995, and for the CableACE Award from 1992 to 1997. MST3K also brought to several older movies that had not received public attention and were subsequently identified as some of the worst movies ever made, most notably Manos. MST3K is set in the not-too-distant future, to keep his sanity, Joel builds several sentient robots collectively named the bots, Tom Servo, Crow T. Joel has no control over when the start, because he used the parts that would have allowed him to do so to build the robots. As the movie plays, Joel, Tom Servo, and Crow wisecrack and mock the movie — a practice often referred to as riffing — to prevent themselves from going mad. Over the course of the run, there were several cast changes. When Weinstein left the series after the first national season, Kevin Murphy replaced him as the voice of Tom Servo while TVs Frank replaced Weinsteins Dr. Erhardt as Dr. Forresters lackey. Hodgson departed the series halfway through the season, head writer Michael J. Nelson replaced him as the shows human host until the end of the series. When Conniff left following the season, Dr. Forrester was paired with his mother Pearl Forrester for the seventh season. Episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 are generally 90 minutes in running time, each episode primarily features the riffing of the movie, with these theater segments wrapped with live-action skits performed by the cast

31.
Crow T. Robot
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Robot is a fictional character from the American science fiction comedy television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. Crow is a robot, who, along with others, ridicules poor-quality B movies, on the Satellite, Crow was forced with the rest of the crew to watch horrible B-movies sent by mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester and his assistants. In episode 814, Riding with Death, Crow describes himself as being made from molybdenum, Crows middle initial stands for The. Crow is also sometimes called Art, primarily by late-series antagonist Pearl Forrester and this arose from a gag in episode 203 Jungle Goddess following a skit centered on the sitcom The Honeymooners, where Joel referred to Crow as Art Crow. After Best Brains received a letter from a child who had missed the cultural reference and labeled a drawing of Crow as Art. Crow was voiced by Trace Beaulieu from the beginning of the series through the end of season seven, Corbetts Crow was noticeably more irritable, bitter, and impatient with the movies than Beaulieus Crow had been. He will be voiced by Hampton Yount in the 2016 series revival and he also wrote a rather poorly researched documentary titled Crow T. Robots Bram Stokers The Civil War, and created another called Lets Talk Women, in which he denies the existence of women. He also wrote a one man show titled Robot on the Run, being an avid member of the Kim Cattrall and Estelle Winwood fan clubs. Co-writing a satirical musical called Supercalifragilisticexpiali-wacky, during the Christmas episode #321, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, he wrote a Christmas carol titled Lets Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas, inspired by his favorite movie, Road House. Though all the SOL prisoners make it their goal to escape, but, in episode #903, The Pumaman, Crow actually succumbed to the Mads experiment. He decided this film had finally pushed him over the edge and he attempted to run away, hoping to find a satellite where he would be forced to watch good movies, but gave up on his escape attempt after mere seconds. In between segments of the movie Werewolf he successfully turns Mike into a Werecrow, in the earlier seasons of the show, he usually announcing Ladies and gentlemen, Topo Gigio. in the voice of Ed Sullivan. During episode 416, Fire Maidens of Outer Space, Crow acquired a double named Timmy, however, the double began playing tricks on Tom Servo and Joel, who blamed Crow for the actions. Timmys appearance was a parody of the evil twin concept, in the Turkey Day version of episode 701, Night of the Blood Beast, Crow attended the Forrester Thanksgiving dinner alongside such guests as Mr. B Natural, Pitch the Devil, and others. During this episode, Crow seems to have a friendship with Pearl Forrester, who seems to enjoy his company, due to a time travel paradox in episode 821, Time Chasers, a second Crow lives in Minnesota, working at a cheese factory. In the theatrical film based on the series, Crow distinguishes himself early on by attempting to back to Earth using a pickaxe. Even he admits the faulty logic employed in this scheme when he examines his calculations, Well, breach hull, all die — I even had it underlined